Recent Stories
La Cieca notes that the Gran Teatre del Liceu production of Carmen, directed by Calixto Bieito and starring Beatrice Uria-Monzon, Roberto Alagna, Marina Poplavskaya and Erwin Schrott, will be broadcast to cinemas a couple of weeks from now.
Congratulations to parterre fave Andrew Richards, who was featured in the staging named Best Opera Production of 2009-2010 in Opernwelt magazine: Verdi’s Macbeth, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski at La Monnaie in Brussels.
Stephen Wadsworth‘s vision of Boris Godunov will be more limited than Peter Stein‘s—at least so far as timing goes. Though the original director’s version would not have run anything near as long as his 12 hour Devils on Governor’s Island last summer, Wadsworth found a way to make the production both lighter in weight and…
La Cieca would like to call the cher public’s attention to the new “share” buttons at the foot of each posting here on parterre.com. Clicking on the “Like” button will alert your Facebook friends of your affection for the given posting; the “Tweet” button will send the current posting to your Twitter feed.
Faithful and sharp-eared member of the cher public reedroom notes, “…an observation about the Levine 40th Wozzeck CD (Anja Silja/Jose van Dam)—the second CD (acts 2 and 3) has to be a different performance, different cast and different year. It is undoubtedly Hildegard Behrens on the 2nd CD. I don’t know who the baritone is…
A certain person soon to return from exile has a tale to tell: “So, the nameless Wanderer sat down and posed some questions to the groveling Mime. ‘You have heard and believed the accepted wisdom. Are you willing to put your ears where your mouth is?’”
The fact: the rainbow bridge worked tonight in Rheingold at the Met, and the effect was “spectacular.” (All right, that last part was an opinion. But, moving on.) The rumor: “everyone” at the Met knew “well in advance” that the rainbow bridge would not be attempted at Monday night’s opening performance.
Is it really true—the rumor La Cieca just now invented out of whole cloth—that René Pape will play Boris Godunov as an eccentric Chanel couturier? Cher public, you’ll have the chance to find out even before opening night of the Met’s new production of the Mussorgsky epic, since the company is making available making 2,000…
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Poetic license
Poetic license
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Kathryn the great
Kathryn the great
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Count your blessings
Count your blessings
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
One man’s Junker
One man’s Junker
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
“Returning from last season, mezzo Kate Lindsey was again excellent as Hoffmann’s devoted but cynical muse, Necklace.” [Canadian Press]
Roberto Alagna dips his toe into the avant-garde, participating in Calixto Bieito‘s controversial production of Carmen at Teatro del Liceo de Barcelona. [El País]
“You see, I don’t play roles. I find color for every role inside of me.” The soprano Marina Poplavskaya likes to talk about how she sees music as colors. She is also given to morbidly poetic formulations like “Let the harmony penetrate you like a silent knife through your heart.” [New York Observer]
“Fricka, queen of the gods, modeled one of Mamie Eisenhower’s old cocktail dresses; trickster god Loge rocked a Gary Glitter jumpsuit, and the thieving dwarf Alberich sported MC Hammer pants.” Our Own JJ breaks it down. [New York Post]
Great expectations awaited the Met Opera’s new production of Das Rheingold, staged by the ambitious Canadian director Robert Lepage, and rightly so. With a 45-ton set carrying a $16 million price tag, a world-renowned cast, and maestro James Levine celebrating his 40th anniversary on the podium, who wouldn’t be on the edge of his seat as…
Crossing the Plaza and seeing two thousand chairs gleaming in the gloaming with rain slick and thoughts of the evening that might have been for many. Past the ticket takers and the buzz of voices, the gawkers lined up on the stairs to see the celebs, I wend my way through and up and up.…
Placido Domingo will not renew his Washington National Opera contract when it expires in June 2011. Anne Midgette has the story! [Washington Post]
Our Own JJ is dashing about like a mad crazed thing today. At 4:00 this afternoon, he’s joining Naomi Lewin at WQXR to discuss the Met’s impending season (you can listen here), then dashing over to Lincoln Center to cover the opening night Rheingold for the New York Post. In your doyenne’s understandable absence, hosting…
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never made it to the Met
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never made it to the Met
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never sang at the Met.
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never sang at the Met.
The Talk of the Town
Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo should have made it to the Met
Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo should have made it to the Met
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
The Talk of the Town
Ebe Stignani and Anita Cerquetti should have made it to the Met
Ebe Stignani and Anita Cerquetti should have made it to the Met
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
The Talk of the Town
Sena Jurinac should have made it to the Met
Sena Jurinac should have made it to the Met
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
The Talk of the Town
Janet Baker should have made it to the Met
Janet Baker should have made it to the Met
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
The Talk of the Town
Dorothy Maynor should have made it to the Met
Dorothy Maynor should have made it to the Met
We had to wait for Marian Anderson to break the color barrier at the Met and many great Black opera singers never had a chance there.
We had to wait for Marian Anderson to break the color barrier at the Met and many great Black opera singers never had a chance there.
The entire new CD “The Italian Tenor” (featuring Vittorio Grigolo) may be heard here. (If it tickles your fancy, you may want to purchase a copy as well.)
According to Mary Garden’s autobiography, Claude Debussy first encountered the Scottish-born diva at the Opéra Comique. After rehearsing her at the piano in a few scenes from his newly completed opera, Debussy said to Garden: “To think that you had to come from the cold far North to create my Mélisande.” He then turned to…
Chandos’ Opera In English series continues with a new two-disc set of Strauss’ much-admired Ariadne on Naxos, with the Hofmannsthal libretto translated by Christopher Cowell. Sir Richard Armstrong conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and a starry if uneven cast led by Christine Brewer in the title role. This reviewer has never fully warmed to the…
La Cieca is delighted to announce the latest addition to the parterre collection at La Cieca’s Boutique: the Bubble Graph Tee. Wear your diva quantification with pride in 100% cotton, and as you walk away, they’ll know you’re a fan of parterre box. (Which is probably the best time to let that sort of information…
“Perhaps we’ve seen too many commercials with toffs in penguin suits to accept the fact that operagoers are, in fact, a motley middle-class lot. And the Wagner audience is the motliest of all — emeritus professors sit side by side with Ring-loving schoolteachers, fanatic record collectors, neophyte opera mavens and that woman wearing a Valkyrie…
The Met’s 1979 telecast of Mahagonny exposed one of the lesser-known factors contributing to the demise of disco: the global supply of eye shadow, rouge and lip gloss was exhausted for the next decade by a cast featuring Klara Barlow, Louise Wohlafka, Nedda Casei, Gwynn Cornell, Joann Grillo and Isola Jones—and stilettos, garter belts and…
Tamara Mumford (Flosshilde in Das Rheingold) explains the concept of the Met’s new production of the Ring.
Country wailer Patsy Cline and ex-farmgirl Birgit Nilsson.
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